A Beautiful Red
by Grace of Skye
Summary: Do you think the world is a beautiful place? Have you been told sweet stories of happiness and love? Yes? Well none of that crap is true. We're born alone, we live alone, and we die alone - love is a lie we make up along the way to keep ourselves sane. Your name is John Egbert, and you learned all of this the hard way. Gangstuck, Dave/John
1. Prologue

This is a story full of happiness. This is a story full of sadness. This is a story full of truth.

Have you ever heard people talking about how beautiful the world is? How kind it is, and how glad they are to be here? Have you ever been told that the world is a beautiful, kind, gracious place? Yes?

Well, that's probably the biggest lie you've ever been told.

This world is cruel and disgusting, made up of sick pieces of trash. Everyone wants power, and will do anything to get it.

Including destroying all who oppose them.

Your name is John Egbert, and your world ended a long time ago.


	2. Chapter One

A/N: Wow, this story's only been up for like two days and it's already gotten a follow and a favourite! Thanks!

I apologize if this chapter's a little sloppy – I'm terrible at writing the first few chapters of stories, but once I get going hopefully this'll be going smoothly!

I'm also sorry for stupid mistakes or things that don't make sense – I'm writing this at 1:30AM with my sister and her boyfriend sat next to me, so I have to make what I'm writing subtle and just in case quite boring and clean. There may well be smut, very violent fights, murder, etc. in later chapters when my family members are hopefully _not_ sat next to me.

And yet another apology for how short this is! I tried to drag it out and add as much detail as possible, but it still ended up being pretty stubby. Oh well.

And _yet another_ apology for how it's written – I'm English, _very_ English so I don't know the American terms for some things! I'll be using English terms, spelling and language for this story, so I'm sorry if that bothers you. If you don't understand a certain term or something, just ask! Maybe I'll add in a glossary or something? Would that be helpful?

John's POV

Eleven o' clock. When did it get so late?

There's blood everywhere. When did it get so bad?

You're sobbing and screaming. When did you break your promise of not crying?

When did everything fall apart? When did all of this shit start?

All you know is that it's your fault. All that you know is that people are dead because of you. All that you know is that you're a worthless piece of shit, and the guys beating the ever-loving crap out of you are really making sure you know it.

They're screaming very coherent words at you, but the syllables and letters are getting jumbled up in your head and you can't even tell if they're speaking English anymore. They're punching you and kicking you and they've got knives and baseball bats and they're yelling and laughing and you can hear yourself sobbing and screaming and begging but they won't stop and you know it. You carry on anyway, because if you don't they'll mock you and hit you harder.

Your messed-up brain fell back to your earlier thoughts of 'why the fuck are they torturing _me_?' and then everything came flooding back like it always did.

You lived with your parents, you were happy. They protected you from the thugs and gangs, and kept your innocent little mind pure – you didn't know about drugs and gangs and violence. You didn't know how disgusting the world really is.

One day the thugs came into your house. Your parents put up a fight but were soon overwhelmed. Your mother fell first, her scream lingering and her blood flying as her throat was slit and her head half hacked off.

Your father was next. You'd never get that face out of your head. The face that he made when he was stabbed in the throat and shot through the head. They turned on you next. They stabbed you and hit you and threw you around, but you didn't die and it drove them insane. They were so set on killing you that they didn't realize the cops coming in and catching them. That's why everyone hates you – because you got their gangmates caught and killed. Everyone hated you, so no one came to help. You were left their sobbing in both your parents' and your own blood as your world came crumbling down.

The innocent little angel you were shattered at that exact moment, leaving behind the pathetic, half-shattered doll you are now. All you want is someone to come along and fix you – give you new parts and glue you back together.

Okay, you're currently being murdered by a bunch of thugs and you're thinking about crappy rom-com shit? Seriously?

You were never good at paying attention, and by now you were so used to being beaten, tortured and harassed that you didn't even register the pain. Well, you're pretty sure most would describe it as unbearable agony, but you really can't be bothered to use adjectives and fancy words to describe how much being murdered hurt. Because you're pretty sure no one gives a fucking shit.

So to sum up what you just used 434 words to describe in 9 , you're an angsty teenager being murdered and it hurts. Yeah.

Dave's POV

Eleven o' clock. When did it get so late?

You look up from the bright television screen that had been very successfully taking up all of your attention span for the last three hours and examine the now-empty TV room. You didn't even notice anyone leave to go to bed.

Oh well. You're about to return your attention span to the TV for another three hours, but you're stopped by Bro barging in.

"Yo, lil man" he greets casually, "Can you do me a favour?"

"Depends" you reply, sounding disinterested as you pause the screen and glance over to him, "What's the favour?"

"Can you go out and get some more med shit? Sollux and Karkat just came back from their mission and they're pretty beat up" Bro explains, flopping down next to you and snatching the controller from your hands. You glare at him.

"No way am I going out at eleven in this neighbourhood, dude" you argue. "I'll get killed!"

"Take a gun"

"Still not going"

"Pussy"

"Bitch"

"Dickmunch"

"For the love of God will you two shut up?!"

You and Bro turn to the doorway to see an irritated and tired Rose stood there, adorning a purple fluffy dressing gown and a large scowl.

"David, go. Dirk, don't be such an insufferable douche. And please turn that television off, or at least turn it down!" Rose orders, glaring down on you as if you were here children who had just broken a neighbour's window or some shit.

"Fine" you and Bro mumble bitterly. You stand up and grab your jacket and a gun off the table in the kitchen on your way out. Not taking any chances.

The pharmacy isn't too far away, but you have to pass a bunch of alleyways and shady abandoned houses that you're pretty sure are home to drug dealers and insane thugs. Why do you live here again?

Ugh, anyway. The walk to the pharmacy's alright, but dear lord is it freezing. Even in your long-sleeved shirt, jumper and jacket you're shivering and it's not fun.

You buy bandages and all that other shit and bolt it back to the bar, but in the middle of your Chariots of Fire re-enactment [A/N: I wonder how many of you will get that joke w] you're distracted by some very unnatural noises coming from one of the abandoned houses.

At first you shake it off as something unimportant, but you can't help but listen closer and hear what sounds like a boy a little younger than you screaming out in pain and terror.

And you don't know why, but you feel your blood boiling as you listen to the poor kid's sobs.

You're not quite sure whether this is a good decision or not, but your brain is quickly telling you to go in there and save him. To go in there and take that agony and terror out of his voice. You want to protect him, but you really have no idea why.

And before you know what you're doing, you're kicking the door in and running in there, your gun in your hands and your mind set on saving that boy and killing the people that hurt him.

A/N: GIMME AN O! GIMME AN O! GIMME A C! WHAT'S THAT SPELL? OOC! YEAAYYYYYY!

Wow I'm really sorry for this mess of a fanfic. I don't even know what happened to Dave's personality in that last bit there.

I meant to include Dave rescuing John in this chapter, but I was going so off track I decided to put that in the next chapter.

But now it's really late and my insomnia's kicking in so I'm gonna start the next chapter right away! Who knows, maybe I'll have chapter three done too? I wouldn't be surprised – I'm not going to sleep anyway so I might as well exert my energy into something at least semi-productive.

Reviews would be lovely, but flames will be used to toast my marshmallows! uwu


	3. Chapter Two

A/N: Ah~ You're all so lovely! Thanks for reading this!

So far it's been a bit of a train wreck, but hopefully I'm slowly crawling towards an actual plot. Maybe.

Just a warning that this chapter is a massive mess of me trying to be funny and well, just a general mess. Bro's section is pretty much just a mess of me laughing at my own jokes at one o' clock in the morning and trying to distract myself from the fact I have to go to my cousin's dress-up party in six hours. To be frank I do not want to spend the day in a shitty pirate outfit playing pass-the-parcel with a four-year-old and her friends, but I guess you have to suffer for family. At least she can owe me for something in like ten years.

Dave was just about to break into that house, save damsel-in-distress John and kick some thug ass. Let's rejoin him on his badly-written adventures, shall we?

Dave's POV

You're still pretty unsure of what you're doing when you kick the old house's door in. It makes a loud, satisfying bang that hopefully warns the bastards upstairs that you're here and you mean business.

You suddenly gag a little at the smell, though. What the fuck died in here?

Oh. It looks like someone _actually_ died in here.

There's dry blood everywhere, staining the old, dirty carpet; it must have been there for years. The blood seems to have come from the lounge, so you apprehensively open the door and barely stifle a scream at the sight. Two corpses sprawled out on the floor, one with a slit throat and a head barely hanging onto what was left of the neck, the other with a knife protruding from its neck and a blown-up head. You wonder what kind of shit went down.

Anyway, you're not in here to play "Whodunit" – there's a kid upstairs that could well have been killed whilst you were wandering about. You mentally hit yourself and grab your gun again (which you had put back in the hidden pocket in your jacket), charging up the stairs and stopping at the landing. Which room are they in?

Sounds like…this one! You kick open the door and there they are. Fuck yes you are such a badass.

They spin around and stare at you in shock, dropping the poor kid on the floor where he fell in a limp heap, whimpering and coughing up a little blood.

"Who the fuck are you?" one of them demanded, trying to look threatening. You almost laughed – he was so fat that his face shook hilariously, and his eyes were almost lost in all the flab.

"The name's Dave. Pleasure" you reply nonchalantly, twirling the gun in your hand, "Now would you mind telling me why you're beating this kid up?"

One of the others laughs. He's thin, but not in an attractive way at all – it looks weird and pretty comical. His head's also way too big for his body, to add to the hilarity.

"Who're you? His boyfriend?" he mocks in a deep voice that didn't suit him. You smirk.

"Nope" you reply, "If I was his boyfriend you'd be dead already, man. But I think I'll warn you that if you don't leave him alone and piss off, you'll be dead pretty soon anyway."

Another mocks you, calling you a little kid and talking shit about your skills. You raise the gun and shoot, missing his head by roughly a centimetre.

"You better shut your fat little face, or next time I won't miss" you hiss, your eyes flashing dangerously behind your shades – although of course they can't see.

He backs off, looking scared, but the others persevere. They're really testing your patience, so you shoot one guy in the foot and point the gun at who you assume is their bancho's head.

That sends them running and you smirk at their retreating backs. You're quickly brought back to reality by the kid's whimpering, though.

You kneel down by his side and place a hand on his head to hopefully soothe him a little – he's still a trembling, sobbing mess, and you don't think that that's really helping his physical state.

He flinches away from the touch out of what you guess is instinct, but when he figures out you mean no harm he reluctantly lets you return your hand to its former position.

"Hey" you whisper, trying not to speak to loudly and scare him any more than he currently is, "My name's Dave, and I'm gonna help you, alright?"

He doesn't reply, but he doesn't reject you either, so you take it as an okay. Well, you were gonna help him either way, whether he liked it or not. As if you'd just leave him.

You fish out some of the medical stuff Rose made you buy from the plastic bag which you only just remember you've been holding this entire time and set to work on tending to a few of his more major injuries.

To be perfectly honest, you know jack shit about first aid, but you think you're doing an alright job. Someone who actually knows what they're doing will tend to him when you get home, anyway, so it's not like it matters too much.

You find yourself cringing as you check his injuries and bandage him up, imagining how much pain he must be in. He looks quite a bit younger than you, small, pale and unhealthily skinny. This is really bugging you and you don't know why. Maybe it's just your amazing superhero instincts?

Anyway, you should call Bro to come pick you up, 'cause you have a feeling this guy's not gonna make it back with you carrying him.

Bro's POV

After Dave leaves, you turn down the TV like Rose asked and continue playing your stupid videogames. You don't even know what you're playing. Some war game apparently.

Anyway, it's boring and you're hungry so you get up and go to the kitchen, where Jane's stood baking. It's one in the fucking morning this chick has a problem.

Wait a second, why is the pharmacy open at one in the morning? And why the fuck is everyone awake?

Screw it, the writer's obviously high as a kite so let's just move on.

"Hi!" Jane greets cheerily as you walk in, glancing at you and smiling a very hyperactive smile.

"Jane," you sigh, "How much coffee have you had?"

"At least three mugs!"

"Oh my god"

She continues skipping around and baking cakes and cookies and whatever else, smiling all the while. What.

"Uh, any chance I can have one?" you ask, gesturing to the huge-ass pile of baked goods lining the kitchen walls and taking up all the counter space. She nods.

"Of course! Have as many as you like!"

You a brief moment you wonder where all these damn ingredients came from, but then you remember your earlier statement and just enjoy the cake. Jane may be mildly insane, but she cooks good food.

You're halfway through your third blueberry muffin when your phone rings. It's Dave.

"Sup" you greet through a mouthful of blueberries and sweet dough when you pick up.

"Come get me" Dave orders almost immediately, his tone telling you immediately some serious shit's going down.

"What's up? You get beat up or some shit?" you ask, already grabbing your keys and heading out the door, leaving Jane to her cooking and Rose to her weird TV shows in the lounge.

"As if" he replies, and you feel a little pride for that reply, but it changes back to concern when he continues, "Someone else has"

"Who?"

"Some kid. Looks a little younger than me. Some guys were trying to kill him, I scared 'em off and bandaged him up best I could. Can you please come pick me up? He needs help"

You of course agree immediately and ask where he is. You're soon marching up the stairs of the old house, taking a guess that he's in the room with the smashed door.

Apparently your guess was correct. He's sat in the middle of the torn-up room, cradling the aforementioned kid in his arms and trying to soothe him out of his fit.

"Hey" Dave greets without looking up, still completely set on making the boy calm down. He'd be a pretty shitty nanny, but at least he's trying.

You look around the room to see if there's anything you can pick up, but the room doesn't seem to offer much. You guess most things have already been stolen.

After a little rummaging through the cupboards and drawers, though, you come up with a few blankets and two bunny toys. You suspect he'll either reject them or be embarrassed or whatever, but you have a feeling they'll be comforting. [A/N: For the record, they have no idea they're in John's parents' house.]

"Alright, let's go"

A/N: This story is so off-track it's kind of ridiculous. Oh well, once I get this bit over with I have rather a good idea of what I'll be doing.

I think the main reason this story's so terrible is that fact that I'm writing it in second person, so I think in the next chapter I'll try third person. Maybe that'll be a bit better.

Anyway, I think John'll be introduced next chapter, as well as most of the others.

Pretty please with sprinkles and a cherry on top review! ;w;


	4. Chapter Three

A/N: Okay! It's nine in the morning and I'm supposed to be setting up for my cousin's party but it looks like the adults have busied themselves with arguing and I don't really want to get in the middle of that, so here I am.

Let's just hope no one catches me or sees what I'm writing, shall we?

This chapter will be written in the third person, so I might be abandoning the POVs. Would you like me to? Or should I go back to second person? Please tell me in the reviews!

John is still being referred to as "the kid" and "the boy" as he hasn't been introduced yet, but soon it'll be "John" like normal. I refer to people who haven't been introduced in vague terms so it doesn't get confusing.

Bro / Dirk and Dave have just saved John and took him home, still unaware of who he is, along with two bunny plush toys and a few blankets from what they still don't know was his parents' house. Jane and Rose are awake back home waiting for them, and they still don't know what the heck's going on.

What an ignorant mess.

((I'm really sorry for the delay on this chapter! I ended up rewriting it several times. I'm still not happy with it, but it's better than nothing, I guess.))

Rose's POV

It's been far too long since Dave left, and he still isn't back yet. Normally things like this wouldn't bother you too much, seeing as Dave is one of the best fighters in the whole damn city, but it wasn't long ago that Dirk received a rather urgent phone call from Dave and rushed off. _This _worries you; what could have happened that was so drastic that it required the most stubborn person in the world to call the person he swore he'd never ask assistance from, and do exactly that?

Maybe you're over thinking this, as you seem to do a lot, but you really can't shake the feeling that something serious is happening. Something that will change everyone's lives drastically.

…ah, Kanaya was right - you really need to stop thinking as if someone is reading your thoughts like a book.

Dave's POV

It's damn cold tonight, and the poor kid's shivering like a leaf in his thin, shitty jumper that looks about 100 sizes too big. You grab one of the blankets Bro picked up and wrap it around him best you can, and surprisingly he stops whimpering. He unconsciously clutches onto the thing like a lifeline, burying his face into it and falling silent except for the occasional sob.

Okay, that's not a normal reaction to a blanket. Something tells you that this is important, but it's like four in the morning and you can't be bothered to play detective right now. Worrying about this kid's put enough in your mind already.

You're so deep in thought that you don't even notice when Bro pulls into the small car park outside the bar and gets out until he opens your door and flicks your temple.

"C'mon, man. Rose is probably off her head in a panic already" is all he says, grabbing the rest of the stuff he grabbed and making his way inside.

You sigh and pull the kid into your arms again, fumbling in your jeans pocket for your keys to lock the car, seeing as Bro forgot. It's a bit of a struggle with the kid in your arms, but you eventually manage. He's small and light (still slightly worryingly so, but Jane'll soon be shoving endless cakes down his throat so that's not a major issue) so he's easy to carry, but you can't help but notice – however stupid this sounds – that he fits into your arms perfectly. And you have to admit he's pretty damn cute, even with his buckteeth and the fact that you haven't seen his eyes yet. You wonder what colour they are, before abruptly shutting your wandering mind up.

Wow, okay, straying into dangerous territory there, let's not. You then realize you have been stood outside for about five minutes looking like an idiot, and the kid's started shivering again.

You rush inside, using the private side door that leads straight into the Family Lounge – you don't really fancy walking all the way through the bar and hallways. As expected, Rose is sat on the sofa waiting for you, but she was soon leaping to her feet when she saw the kid.

"What on earth?! Who is he? What happened?" she cried, rushing to get a better look instantly.

"He was beat up by some assholes" you explain briefly, a little sick of having to explain it over and over again, "I managed to save him before he was killed. I don't really know anything about him, but he needs help."

Rose doesn't argue. She instructs you instantly to carry the boy upstairs to your room, and you quickly comply whilst she collects the remaining medical stuff you bought, along with her own.

Rose's POV

You shoo Dave out the moment the poor boy he brought in is safely on the bed, and he reluctantly leaves. You can tell he's definitely unhappy about the child's (A/N: I randomly decided to make Rose seventeen-eighteen in order to allow her a more 'in-control' and mature roll. John is sixteen, so she will refer to him as a child as she will with most people younger than her. Sorry if this causes any confusion) injuries, and you have a feeling that they're a lot worse than they seem. You really don't want Dave getting too angry or upset, that won't help at all, so you instruct him to go back downstairs to the TV lounge until you're done.

After quickly mentally preparing yourself for whatever you shall find, you lean the child forwards and slowly and carefully remove his awful jumper and tee-shirt. You think of throwing them away, but then notice how oversized they are and somehow tweak they may have some sentimental value to him.

Returning your view to the boy, you barely stifle a horrified gasp.

"Oh my _god_" a mortified whisper escapes your lips as your eyes travel along his pale, skinny torso.

The scars. Oh dear lord the _scars_. They're everywhere, violent and agonizing, although the eerie white disguised by the awful bruising flowering across his body.

It pains you to merely look at him, not because you find it ugly – if anything, you find scars oddly beautiful – but because they look so god damn _painful_. You wonder how he sustained each and every one, inventing rather horrible scenarios in your head and bothering yourself further with the fact that they're most likely true.

There's blood, too, staining the white of the bandages you suppose Dave put on temporarily and running sluggishly down his pale skin.

You find yourself deeply pitying the poor child, but you're not quite sure why. You've always minded your own business and never let anyone else's problems bother you until now, so why did this child have such an impact on you?

Oh well. Your main priority right now should be making sure the child is alright, not worrying about your social life.

((Cue timeskip. You don't really want to read about Rose sorting John out when this damn plot could finally be moving on, right?))

By the time you finish cleaning the child up and bandaging his many injuries, it's about half past five in the morning and you've no intention of falling asleep. Your mind is far too preoccupied anyway, so what does it matter?

The others are probably all still downstairs, or have wandered downstairs wondering what all the racket is about by now, so you suppose Jane's already cooking breakfast.

You get up and head for the door, but you stop abruptly in your tracks upon hearing movement behind you.

Lilac meets cerulean when you spin around, and you barely suppress a gasp. His eyes…his eyes are so impossibly _beautiful_. You almost slip into another of your 'thinking fits' (as they seem to have been dubbed) before his voice brings you back to reality.

"…hello" slips past his cut lips, his voice cracked and timid, yet still soft and smooth. Judging by his voice, he's absolutely exhausted and still in a considerable amount of pain. You decide to make this conversation short and sweet.

"Hello" you greet, giving him a reassuring smile upon seeing the obvious fear in his eyes, "My name's Rose, and I'm going to look after you, okay? You're safe now, so don't worry. I only need to know one thing for now – what's your name?"

You hope your tone is as comforting as you want it to be, but you have a feeling it's not helping much at all. You're quite surprised when he replies to say the least.

"J-John..my name's John" his voice comes out as barely a tired whisper, light coughs wracking his small frame rather violently every so often. You send another comforting smile in his direction.

"It's nice to meet you, John" you reply softly. "Now go to sleep, okay? Everything's going to be alright, don't worry"

You have a feeling John would try to stay awake, but he's so exhausted that he can't. He gradually drifts back into his safe haven, much to your relief.

You hope such horrors won't plague his dreams, too.

A/N: I shall once again apologize for not updating in forever! I had to rewrite this so many times since I'm a perfectionist and get really upset when what I produce isn't up to my ridiculous standards.

I'm still not particularly fond of it, but I decided I might as well throw it out there since I highly doubt I can produce anything of better quality.

It's rather amusing how you can actually see when I reach 40 hours with no sleep, resulting in the writing quality deteriorating into a complete mess.

I'll try to get more on-track with the next chapter. I actually have quite a few scenario ideas for the rest of the story! A lot of fluff and kind of sad stuff, and of course my everyone/John OTP.

How do I always end up shipping the main character with everyone?

…anyway, please review, I guess! uwu


	5. Chapter Four

A/N: As an apology for taking forever with chapter three, I've written and uploaded chapter four as fast as physically possible.

If all goes to plan, the main cast will have all been introduced by chapter five, but I'm also going to try and cram some Dave/John fluff in here somewhere – but no promises!

So far, John has been found and rescued by Dave and Dirk after some thugs attempted to kill him. They brought him home, where Rose tended to his injuries. He woke up briefly, only managing to tell Rose his name before losing consciousness again.

Let's see where this goes, shall we?

Rose's POV

After you're sure John is comfortable and asleep, you leave and return downstairs to see what the others are doing.

The smell of Jane's cooking meets your nose the second you open the door at the bottom of the stairs, and you can't help but smile softly. Jane's cooking is absolutely lovely to say the least, so of course you enjoy it and look forward to mealtimes.

"Hi there, Rose!"

Terezi's rather loud voice makes you jump slightly, especially since it's thrown at you merely a split second after you open the door. After regaining your posture, you turn to the eighteen-year-old and give her a smile.

"Good morning, Terezi." (A/N: After a while of thinking, I decided to not make Terezi blind as it would be rather inconvenient to the story. I apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may bring.)

Her trademark Cheshire Cat grin is present on her face, as always, and she's wearing those odd glasses she insists are necessary. She's also adorning her favourite Law and Order tee-shirt that she never seems to take off – does she never wash it? Or does she just have a load of that same shirt? Oh well, who are you to call her out on her fashion sense?

"Aren't ya gonna come into breakfast?" she asks you, beckoning with her hand for you to follow her into the dining area. You oblige, of course, having nothing better to do and also being rather hungry.

A large spread of food is set out on the table as always; toast, cereal, bacon, eggs, sausages, Belvitas, the lot, with a happy-looking Jane stood behind it. She smiles at you as you enter, giving you a brief wave and a "hi, Rose!"

She greets Terezi, too, beckoning for you two to sit down at the table and offering you plates of food. Jane's soon back to clattering around in the kitchen, and Terezi's soon deep in conversation with Nepeta and Karkat, leaving you to your troubling thoughts. Should you tell everyone about John, or would that just cause more inconvenience? Was it even a good idea to keep John? Should you make him go home when he wakes up again? Oh, but Dirk seemed rather set on John joining the gang…

You must be making an abnormal expression, because it isn't long until Kanaya's walking over to you and taking the seat beside you that Terezi vacated a while ago, probably to go play with Nepeta in the games room.

"What is on your mind, Rose?" she asks, folding her arms and leaning forwards in the 'therapist pose' that she must have picked up from you.

A sigh has passed your lips before you can stop it, a result of the inner turmoil you are having over whether or not to tell her. It should be okay to tell just Kanaya, right? She shouldn't tell everyone, you trust her.

"Can we talk in my room for a bit?" you offer a hand to her, which she blinks at for a moment before taking delicately and following you patiently to your room.

Kanaya's POV

You know something rather serious is wrong the second Rose sighs – she never sighs unless she is very stressed or worried. Which is rarely.

What on earth could it be, though? No one is hurt, no one is dead, and no rival gangs are attacking us, so what could Rose possibly be stressed or worried about?

Your concern increases when Rose rises from her chair and holds her hand out to you, asking to speak in her room. Something very serious must be going on for Rose to wish to speak in private; she is a very open person and usually has no problem sharing things with everyone, no matter what they may be.

Rose opens the door to her room and sits down on her bed instantly; you follow her inside and already know to shut the door behind you – she gets ever so annoyed when you forget. Her room smells pleasant as always, like cherry blossoms and freshly cut grass – two fragrances she has always adored for unknown reasons. You must admit that they have grown on you too, probably from spending so much time with Rose.

You let your thoughts travel whilst you glance patiently up at Rose every now and again as she seemingly struggles over what to say. You admittedly get lost in your thoughts before Rose suddenly blurts out "There's something I need to tell you!"

"Well, I guessed that much, dear" you reply. "What is it?"

She looks lost again, a crystal-white tooth emerging to nibble at her bottom lip as her eyes dart from side to side awkwardly. Eventually she settles on words she does not seem satisfied with at all, but has no other options.

"There's a child sleeping in Dave's room that we picked up off the street"

Wow. You were not expecting that. Rose looks rather distraught about this, so you figure it's not as trivial as you first thought.

"May I see him?" you ask cautiously, preparing yourself for Rose to explode into one of her freak-out sessions that you were far too familiar with. You're rather surprised when she replies with a slightly hesitant 'alright'. She stands up and brushes her skirt down, taking a moment to compose herself before leading the way to Dave's room on the floor below. Again, you follow patiently and do not rush her as she worries on her bottom lip again, her steps a little clumsier than usual.

It is not long as all before you are standing before the room to Dave's bedroom, painted white and red with his trademark record logo in the middle. It is deemed necessary to decorate your bedroom door like this in this house, as otherwise it is very easy to get lost and go into the wrong room.

Rose freezes in front of the door, her hand hanging in mid-air where she stopped herself from opening it. You nod at her in understanding and open the door yourself, going in without her.

The child is curled up in Dave's bed, the duvet pulled up to his chin and leaving only his head and the hand that was curled up by his face exposed. His silky black hair frames his bruised face in untidy waves, contrasting nicely with his pale skin tone.

You don't even notice when Rose walks up beside you, looking rather nervous.

"Do you think it was wrong to keep him?" she asks, perching on the bed beside the child's legs and reaching a hand up to gently brush the hair from his face.

"I do not" you reply, smiling fondly at both Rose and the child. He has a pleasant aura, gentle and kind yet also strong, and you can tell that Rose already adores him.

"What is his name?" you questions, eyes travelling over his features again.

"John" a soft smile spreads across her black-stained lips and you cannot help your own from widening. You see nothing wrong with John living here at all; perhaps he will even change things for the better?

Dirk's POV

Admittedly, you're a bit of a mess right now. You have no clue to exactly why, though. Stress? Worry? Exhaustion? Probably all three.

You're still in this weird daze at the breakfast table when Roxy's latched onto your arm and Jake's telling you some story from 'The Legendary and Treacherous Times Before the Gang'. Well, to be perfectly honest you never really pay attention anyway (you're too busy eating) but this time you're not _choosing_ to ignore them.

It isn't long before they realize the absence of your usual occasional "yeah"s and "wow"s and question you about it, obviously concerned as you usually at least pretend to be enthusiastic.

"Dirky? You alriiiiight?" Roxy asks, slurring her words a little – jeez, is she seriously tipsy already? She doesn't usually get drunk until after missions, but you soon remember that it's her day off and let it go.

"Dirk, you alright, chap?" Jake questions from your other side, waving a bandaged hand in front of your face and clicking his fingers. You finally snap out of it, giving them an awkward apologetic chuckle.

"Sorry, lot on my mind" is the short explanation you offer, running your own hand through your hair, which is bandaged too. Hand injuries are pretty common, although you tend to wear bandages anyway to help grip; it isn't great if your hands are sweaty and slippy in the middle of a fight, especially since you tend to use weapons such as baseball bats and swords.

Dammit you really need to stop doing that. Getting lost in thought, that is.

Although, it seems that Roxy has thrown her line of conversation at Jane instead and Jake has found a new person to listen to his stories in Aradia.

Back to your pointless monologue.

You're not the type of person to worry about stuff a lot, you never have been, but for some reason things have been getting harder recently. The other gangs have been getting more agitated, more violent; at a guess it's a new major mission sent by their Lord (the enemy gangs are all part of one big one, but since some people couldn't keep their mouth shut they split up and made things about 1000% harder for your gang, which is independent), but what could it be? Word reached you a while ago of one of their prisoner escaping or something – maybe it was to find them?

Going back to the other thing on your mind – what are you gonna do about the kid in Dave's room? You're definitely not abandoning him, that's for sure – that kid won't last another five minutes out there alone. The thing is, will he be willing to stay? It appears he's been traumatized, give or take mentally damaged, by the other gangs, so will he think you're the same?

Well, there's only one way to find out, and you're honestly not looking forward to it. However, you suppose you should take care of first things first.

You rise from your seat, clapping your hands and clearing your throat to catch everyone's attention, although just in case the people in other rooms didn't notice you shout anyway.

"Alright, guys, I have an announcement!"

A/N: I cannot write Dirk to save my life but oh well I needed something in his POV.

Wow, this is the longest chapter yet! I'll bet you guys are so excited about that, so I decided to announce it! YEAH!

Anywho, sorry for the delay! I suffered from quite a bit of writer's block for this chapter.

Some of you might be able to sense some serious foreshadowing going on here, but then again if I wasn't writing this myself I wouldn't notice it so don't feel bad if you can't see it.

It's getting kind of annoying with John still unconscious upstairs, so I think I'll wake him up properly next chapter. The main reason it's annoying is I want to write fluff and you can't really do that when one of the participants is comatose.

Uh, review I guess? Thanks for the people who left nice reviews by the way you guys are awesome! I'm really into this now and I've got my Homestuck playlist going on random-auto-play so yeah I'm gonna write the next chapter now whoo yes let's do this!

…

And the moral of the story is reading my A/Ns is a terrible idea especially when I have six boxes of Pocky in reach.


	6. Chapter Five

A/N: Okie-dokie! I have pizza, Homestuck songs and DaveJohn fanart and I am rEADY TO GO WHOO YES

I really have no idea where I'm going with this story but let's just all hop on the bad fanfic train and see how many people leap out before we reach our destination!

I really have no idea what was happening in the last chapter but we left off at Dirk saying he has an announcement! What could it be? Mystery?/? ? No idea? ?/? ?

Dirk's POV

"Alright, guys, I have an announcement!"

That certainly gets everyone looking at you. Shit, you're not great at speaking when people are staring at you (most people argue that you used to be a DJ, but you don't really look at the DJ when you're at a club, do you?) but might as well go for it. These people are your family, anyway, it's not like they'll ridicule you - because they care about you.

…

Well, you pay for Sky TV. That's good enough reason for you.

"We have a newbie joinin' us" you continue after deciding you've left your former sentence hanging a little too long.

However, at that line, all hell breaks loose. Karkat and Kankri are soon on their feet screaming bloody murder, Sollux is complaining about some shit you don't care about, Jane is panicking about having enough food (girl you make a fucking banquet three times a day I think we're good) and well basically everyone's yelling at it's not fun.

Where the fuck did Rose and Kanaya go, they're usually the ones to deal with shit like this. Ugh, whatever.

"Everyone, shut up!" you scream over the noise. It takes a few yells, but eventually everyone decides to comply before you start throwing shit. You think that's probably because the closest thing in reach is a table.

"If anyone has any complaints, you may raise your hands and only speak when called on. If you're gonna act like Year Twos, I'm gonna treat ya like Year Twos" you struggle to keep your voice level, it's too early for this shit. A few annoyed grumbles ripple around, but no one complains again…except Karkat and Kankri. Of course.

"Who is he?" Karkat demands, his glare faltering, however as the girls in the room all glare at him. "O-or she!"

You go to reply, before it occurs to you that you have absolutely no idea. You don't know who he is - not his name, age, anything. You panic a little; you can't tell them that, they'll flip the fuck out!

"I—uh.."

"His name is John"

Hell fucking yes, Rose god bless you and your brilliant timing.

"We're not presently aware of many details, seeing as he has been in a comatose state for most of his time here so far. We will be sure to find out as much as he is willing to disclose once he awakens, although I must say that we will almost certainly find out everything anyway as he gradually grows more comfortable around us and his new surroundings" Rose half-snaps, half-smiles at Karkat and Kankri before sparing a sideways glance and an understanding smile at you. You return a grateful grin.

((-Strums a guitar- And then we timeskip because I cannot imagine anything else productive happening here and to tell the truth most of this chapter is filler because I accidentally made the last chapter go on all night when it was only supposed to go on to like one in the morning and now I've got a whole day empty and I don't know what to doooooo~))

Sollux's POV, in the Games Room at…like 8PM, I don't know

You're admittedly a little too involved in the videogame you're currently playing, or, well, that's the excuse you use when Terezi sneaks up behind you and nearly scares you to death.

"Hi, Sollux" she grins, snickering at your reaction that had quite obviously exceeded her expectations. You narrow your eyes at her, clicking your split tongue in irritation.

"What do you want, Terezi?" you may have been a bit rude, considering all she did was play a harmless joke, but that joke cost you your life…in the videogame, of course. Plus, to be frank, you don't particularly like her.

"Oh? Can't I just say hello to my good old friend once in a while? You're just as hostile as you were in high school! I'd have thought having such lovely friends and family would soften you up, but nope! You're just as mean as you were before joining the lovely gang of Sburb!" Terezi grins, putting on a show of melodramatic offence. It's true, though – Terezi would know. You met her in your first year of high school after both being grouped out with the weird kids, but to be fair you were quite weird.

A guy with heterochromatic eyes who found it easier to hack into a government computer than reciting the 7 times tables, and a girl with red eyes and weirdo fang-teeth who enjoyed licking and biting things and could complete the obstacle course in less than a minute; you two were hardly normal. You hung out together since no one else would, forming a strange half-friendship even though you still held a rather large hatred for each other for no apparent reason. Nepeta told you the official word is 'frenemies'.

"Yeah, being nice isn't a feature I have or like. What do you want, seriously?" you snap, resetting your game and forcing your attention back to the screen.

You can see Terezi smirk in the corner of your eye as she leans forwards and leans on the back of the sofa, looking over your head at the screen innocently.

"Well, ya know how Rose and Dirk introduced the newbie earlier?" she asks, a prominent undertone of mischief in her voice.

"Yeah?" you reply, trying not to sound as interested as you are. What could she be planning this time? She's been making ridiculous plots since you first met her, always dragging you along and always getting you both into trouble. Although, as much as you hate to admit it, they're kind of fun.

"I overheard Rose talking to Kanaya – he's in Dave's room!"

"…and?"

"We're gonna sneak in there and check him out!"

You pause your game with a sigh and give Terezi your full attention, quirking an eyebrow at her.

"If we're caught, we're killed"

"But we won't _get _caught, doofus! Come on, everyone's busy! Rose said she was going to go and check on him at 10, giving us, like, 45 minutes! And it's not like Dave's gonna go to bed before eleven" Terezi grins, and you can't help the smirk that slowly slides onto your face.

"I'm in"

Terezi's POV

You grin widely at the door in front of you, chuckling a little at how damn easy it was to sneak up here. Well, it's not like the kid's being guarded or whatever but you still expected to at least run into Rose or something.

Sollux is stood beside you, his arms crossed across his chest and a rather bored look on his face.

"Are you gonna go in or just have eye-sex with the door?"

You spare a laugh at that, opening the door quietly and stepping inside with Sollux close behind. He closes the door after him, and you stroke along the walls after realizing the lights are turned off and you'll need to find the switch. After a while of sensually stroking the walls and fondling the random shit Dave hangs up, you find the switch and turn on the light.

You're blinded for a few seconds by the sudden change from dark to light, but soon get used to it and spot someone occupying the bed. You slap Sollux's arm and point, his gaze following your finger and falling on the boy.

"Dammit, I can't see him properly! Be a dear and pull the covers down!"

Sollux stares at you incredulously, hissing a seemingly nervous "are you insane?!"

"Yes" you reply nonchalantly, tilting and shaking your head as if to say 'duh!' before continuing, "but that's not the point! I want to see him, or else this was all pointless! Go on, he won't wake up…probably"

Sollux's eyes widen even further and you barely suppress a snicker as you push him forwards and urge him on quietly. After a few moments of your urging and flicking of his back, he clicks his tongue and groans.

"Fine! Score one for peer pressure!"

"Yay, thanks!"

Sollux moves forwards cautiously, extending his hand out to pull the covers away before snatching it back instantly as the ki—uh, wait no, his name was John, right?—turns over. You roll your eyes at him and tell him to hurry the hell up – you're running out of time!

He glares and moves forwards again, reaching out and this time successfully grabbing the covers. After a moment's hesitation, he yanks them back and jumps away like a total dweeb. But anyway you don't really care anymore – you've got what you want.

You push him out of the way and step over to the bed, removing your glasses so you can see him properly. You're not quite sure why you wear those glasses: they kind of hinder your sight a lot, but you get a lot of comments on how weird and creepy they look so you keep them. Anyway, after you adjust to your rather alien full-colour surroundings (you're far too used to seeing everything in a red-ish blur) you lean down to the ki—John and get right up in his grill, checking out as much as you can.

You can't tell much since he's asleep and in an awkward position, but you can quite easily tell that he has untidy black hair, a pale complexion, a small and unnaturally skinny build and a fuckton of scars and bruises and shit.

Now, to be perfectly honest you love scars – it's kind of a fetish – which is proved by the fact that you purposely wear short sleeves and shorts to show off your own that you've gained in fights and falls since you were a little kid. However, all you can think of when you see his is ouch. All your scars are fairly feeble, the deepest, most major ones from Nepeta clawing the fuck out of your arm when you made the mistake of picking a fight with her in high school. Most of John's seem to be..stab wounds? Pretty much all of them seem to be inflicted by swords and general weapons used by gangs here, but he doesn't look much like a fighter. Oh well, who are you to judge?

"I'd say he's around fourteen" Sollux suddenly randomly whispers right in your ear, scaring the living daylights out of you and almost making you fall on top of th-god fucking damn it, _John_.

"Fourteen? You serious? Look at him! Sure, he looks it – but he can't be that young and be that beat up, eh?"

"With this town, you can't really tell"

"You've got a point there. But s—"

You freeze mid-sentence, an alarmed squeak escaping your lips. Sollux gives you a weird look, but before he can ask what the hell you're doing you've got a hand over his mouth and you're hissing in his ear a panicked "_he's waking up!_"

"What should we do?" Sollux sounds mildly panicked too, to your relief (don't wanna look like you're overreacting or anything), "Run for it? Let him wake up? Try to get him to go to sleep aga—too late!"

A/N: And there you have it. A long overdue, badly written update.

Uh well there's kind of a cliffhanger there I guess. I have no idea where I'm going with this so suggestions are always good.

Oh, also, a friendly reminder that _**if you draw stuff for this I will give you my soul and my hand in marriage seriously I will love you forever. **_I know that not a lot about appearance has been given out yet: I did that on purpose. I want to see what you think they look like! Headcanons! Although I'll just throw a reminder out there that it's humanstuck and gangstuck since at the moment that isn't being made very obvious, oops…

Anywho – hope you enjoyed and please review!


	7. Chapter Six

A/N: What's this? An…update?! You mean the writer's not dead?! Eheheh, yeah. Sorry, guys! I honestly don't know why this took so long. Guess I went through some writers' block.

Well, it's summer and I'm out of school now – so I can update more frequently!

Thanks for the kind reviews, by the way! You're all sweethearts!

We left off at Terezi and Sollux sneaking in to see John, and then John woke up! DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!

….I have a feeling this story is becoming very predictable.

Sollux's POV

"Too late!" you squeak, backing away as if John was going to kill you or something. Well, for all you know, he could kill you! Maybe he's an insane murderer or something!

Terezi lets out a nervous sort of whine herself, backing away with you. You move closer to each other and hug each other in a mess of nerves and terror. You're never gonna live this down.

Anyway, John wakes up slowly, rubbing his eyes and looking confused. After a few groans and a bit of pained mumbling, he's half-sat up in what you suppose is the most comfortable position he can find.

He doesn't notice you at first, and you can't really tell if that's good or bad. At least it gives you more time to think of an excuse to be in here watching him sleep. When his eyes do fall on you, however, he blinks in surprise and squints; what the hell is he doing? It's as if he's having trouble seeing you or something.

"…is anyone there?"

Sweet Jesus is this kid blind or something. You glance at Terezi (who you are still hugging awkwardly) to see what she wants to do.

With a sigh, she releases her grip on you and steps forward, "hi there!"

John stares at her for a moment in surprise, his – pretty as fuck - eyes meeting hers and widening a little, "h-hi."

He doesn't seem to have any trouble seeing Terezi.

You don't bother to greet him yet, instead choosing to watch. You follow his eyes - holy shit they can't be naturally that colour wow – as they travel across Terezi's dyed crimson-red hair and meet her eyes of the same colour once again. She blinks in surprise at John's interest in her hair and eyes – well, they're hardly natural colours – but soon smiles, curling her lip in what seems to be an attempt to hide her fang-like teeth in case they scare him.

You quickly note how her demeanour changes to gentle and sweet, as it always does when she talks to children and people she likes. You are neither of these things, so she tends to be a bit of a bitch to you.

"My name's Terezi Pyrope. You're John, right?"

John nods, still tense and nervous. Terezi turns round and beckons you over with a flick of her finger. Reluctantly, you walk to her side.

It seems John can see you now, but he's still squinting in that strange way. He's wearing glasses (which he had put on since he woke up after fumbling around for them for a while) so it can't be blurry vision, so what? Does he just naturally squint or something?

No, he doesn't squint when he's looking at Terezi…ugh, anyway.

"I'm Sollux Captor" you introduce quietly, smiling a little at the look he gives you; wide, curious, blue eyes staring up at you.

An uncomfortable silence settles between you, everyone unsure of what to say – or, rather, if to say anything. Surprisingly, John is the one to break the silence.

"…where's Rose?"

"Huh?" Terezi looks surprised, but soon smiles "Rose? She should be downstairs. Would you like me to get her?"

You turn to her in shock, eyes wide as you move forward to hiss in her ear, "I thought the whole point of this was to avoid Rose and not get caught! Going up to the person we're trying to avoid kind of defeats the system!"

"John's obviously scared!" she hisses back, of course siding with the kid, "Rose seems to be the only one he's comfortable with, so if we go get her he'll hopefully calm down and not be so upset."

You two are too busy to notice Rose walking in on her own and standing in the doorway with a disapproving look on her face, until she lets out a fake cough to make her presence known.

You and Terezi practically jump out of your skin, though John seems unfazed. He brightens at her appearance, if anything.

"What are you two doing in here?" it isn't really a question – she knows damn well why you're here, it's more to faze you out. Terezi chuckles nervously, backing up slowly until making a break for it with unexpected speed. Although, of course, Rose catches her by the collar and drags her back in. You walk to Rose's side and put your arms out as if accepting arrest without being asked, way too used to this. Before Rose drags you out to lecture you, though, she turns back to John and smiles.

"I'm sorry I can't spend time with you right now, but I'm sending my friend up. You'll be sharing a room with him – he's very nice – and I'm sure you two will get along well."

And with that, she grabs your wrist and glides out of the room gracefully, tugging you and Terezi along behind her.

John's POV

That was kind of weird. _ They_ were kind of weird. But they seemed nice enough, and that's good enough for you.

You hadn't at all been expecting Terezi and Sollux to appear in your room, but it was a strange mix between an unpleasant and delightful surprise.

You had quickly taken note of their speech patterns and accents: Sollux talked with a lisp, judging by the sound it's caused by his split tongue and teeth (which are rather a horrible mess – sticking out and all at different lengths) and Terezi talked loudly and quite deeply, adding unnecessary emphasis and always under toning her words with a note of threat subconsciously – at a guess she was once, or still is, an announcer of some sort. But knowing this city, she could well be a normal gang member who enjoys screaming and yelling to psych people out and threaten them.

They both seemed mischievous and sneaky, although they were rather bad at sneaking around. They were probably train wrecks independently.

Anywho, what had Rose said about sending her friend up? Replaying her sentence in your head, you recall her saying 'he' and referring to him as nice. Just how many people are there here?

Your thoughts are quickly interrupted by who you guess is the friend Rose was talking about entering. You have a feeling he'd have been far more boisterous and aggressive if you weren't here – he doesn't seem like the careful type. You quickly note his appearance: tall, moderately muscular, styled blonde hair, hoodie, skinny jeans, shades – an obvious 'cool guy' type, although he's a lot more normal-looking than Terezi and Sollux. He's wearing red and he's nice and easy to see, which gives him points in your book.

Wait; hold up, you know him. Where have you seen that face before…? Was he…? Yes! He's the one that rescued you!

You want to tell him and thank him, but your voice is failing you and you decide to leave the talking to him. He'd told you his name, you suddenly recall, but what was it?

Dan? No…Darren? What? No way! Uh…Da-Da-Da…..Dave! His name's Dave!

He must've noticed your brightening after your realization, because he smirks.

"Remember me, eh? You better be grateful after I carried your sorry ass half a mile over here" his tone is light and joking, and he snickers at his own statement. You spare the best laugh you've got in you, which isn't much but he seems to appreciate it.

"You're John, right?" he asks, making his way over to the wardrobe and throwing open the doors, "I'm Dave."

You smile mutely and nod, and he smirks again, tugging his hoodie off and dumping it on an armchair by the window. You blush profusely and turn away as he strips casually, not a care in the world that a complete stranger's watching him. You're definitely not reluctant to look away, definitely not.

Anyway, he changes quickly and is soon looking at you again.

"Are you gonna move over or what?" he asks, quirking an eyebrow and making a 'shoo' motion with his hands. You give him an incredulous look.

"You're..gonna sleep in-in here with me?" you choke out, your cheeks heating up. Dave snorts – oh, wow, real cool – and grins at you.

"'m not that bad, am I?" he chuckles.

You both fall silent and it becomes awkward quickly. Silently, you shuffle over in bed and he looks rather surprised for a second, before smirking and clambering in next to you.

"Thanks" he murmurs. It's a bit of a squash with the two of you, but you manage to get into a comfortable position and, strangely, start drifting off to sleep pretty quickly.

Maybe staying here won't be as bad as you thought.

A/N: And here, like, three chapters too late is the DaveJohn fluff.

Hopefully soon I'll get to giving the other characters their spot in the limelight.

However, the next chapter will be an explanation – because re-reading this I realized how confusing it must be for you guys. Don't worry, though! I'll write the next actual chapter quickly afterwards!

Uh, please review!


	8. Explanations

A/N: Here's the explanations chapter, as promised. Hopefully this'll clear things up! Even though it basically makes no sense I'm writing this as quickly as I can whilst trying to get the next chapter finished at the same time, bear with me.

Basically, Bro/Dirk is the leader of a gang named Sburb.

It all started when he and Dave moved out of their parents' house a few years ago. They moved to this city (which I just decided will be called Skaia hahahahah I'm brilliant) unaware of its reputation or gangs and violence. Even after learning of it, they decided to stay – they'll finally be able to put those sword-fighting lessons to good use, eh?

Using the money their parents gave them, they bought a cheap, run-down, abandoned hotel on the outskirts of Skaia. Rose and Roxy, their half-sisters, soon learned of their plans and offered to move in with them and help out. Dirk and Dave accepted the offer, so Rose and Roxy moved in with them and helped them fix up the hotel.

It isn't long before they meet Sollux and Terezi, two high school delinquents that have no hope and no home. Dirk offers them rooms, which they accept. Karkat, Kankri and Gamzee appear next, and are soon adopted into the 'family'.

Feferi appears on the scene soon after, along with a half-drowned Eridan. She meets the soon-to-be gang when she knocks on their door begging for them to save him. As a thanks, the two offer to join.

Nepeta drags Equius along next. She begs to join, but everyone's a little reluctant. They can't have a little girl with them, she might get hurt!

Nepeta soon shows them that she is not a little girl and anyone that tries to fight her will end up finely sliced and grilled. She's welcomed with open arms. Equius, too, of course.

Basically, all the trolls (Beta and Alpha) appear and join – I'm way too lazy to type it all out. Jade and Jake join a little while after, and Jane appears very suddenly and desperately last of all.

They're not actually a gang until a while after Jane joins. They're targeted and attacked by a gang and forced to fight back.

However, their attackers won't let up so they decide to become an actual gang so they can fight properly. Everyone except Rose, Jane, Kankri and Tavros are fighters – these four only fight when they have to/want to; they prefer to be more like the 'parents' and keep things in control.

It's about a year after they become a gang that John comes along, and it's a few days after they learn of an enemy gang's prisoner escaping. Hm, I wonder what the connection there might be? I am great at suspense and plot twists. Master story teller.

Anyway, obviously they've now 'adopted' him whether he likes it or not. That brings us up to date with the plot.

As for the other gangs – not much has been revealed about them yet, except they all serve one 'Lord' and supposedly have/used to have prisoners/a prisoner. I'm trying and failing miserably to be vague with this, so I'm guessing you can all pretty much tell what's gonna go down in this story as a whole.

Uh…oh yeah – missions! I believe I've mentioned missions before, but if not you'll know what's coming. As I mentioned before, the other gangs (I'm gonna try and reveal the names in the next chapter because saying 'the other gangs' is getting real annoying) really like fucking shit up. They attack Sburb for one thing, but they also harass each other and the innocent citizens of Skaia. Why normal, innocent people live in this damn city I don't know – let's just pretend there isn't a fuckton of plot holes, 'kay?

Sburb is kinda the mediator between these guys and everyone. The missions mostly involve patrolling and making sure the other gangs aren't doing anything, unless of course they are attacked or find out that the other gangs are being little bitches again – then missions involve kicking some ass. That's pretty much it for now.

Oh, yeah, ages and shit. Before anyone says I've got them wrong – I've changed a lot since earlier chapters and obviously this doesn't line up completely with the actual comic.

Bro/Dirk Strider – 21-22

Dave Strider – 18

John Egbert – 16-17

Rose Lalonde – 18

Jade Harley – 19

Jake English – 20

Roxy Lalonde – 21

Jane Crocker – 21

Karkat Vantas – 18

Aradia Megido – 19

Tavros Nitram – 18

Sollux Captor – 19

Nepeta Leijon – 18

Kanaya Maryam – 19

Equius Zahhak – 20

Gamzee Makara – 21

Eridan Ampora – 18

Feferi Peixes – 19

Vriska Serket – 19

Terezi Pyrope – 19

Kankri Vantas – 21

Damara Megido – 23

Rufioh Nitram – 22

Mituna Captor – 20

Meulin Leijon – 21

Porrim Maryam – 23

Horuss Zahhak – 24

Kurloz Makara – 25

Cronus Ampora – 24

Meenah Peixes – 23

Aranea Serket – 23

Latula Pyrope – 22

Now for relationships, oh goodie. This doesn't include romantic stuff, by the way, just families. There's also a few left out because of spoilers.

Dave, Rose, Dirk and Roxy are all siblings as I mentioned before. Dave and Rose are twins.

Jade and Jake are cousins.

All of the trolls that share last names are siblings. Because apparently like everyone has a sibling. Shut up this is my story I do what I want.

That's all the relationships that I can give away for now without spoilers.

I think that's mostly everything explained? Meh, just ask if you don't understand anything else okay, woohoo. Expect the next chapter in roughly five seconds.


	9. Chapter Seven

A/N: Enter, the other characters that have had no mention until this point!

I am a pro at this wow chapter seven and legitimately 99% of the cast haven't even been mentioned yet.

I'm also gonna throw out there that I haven't received any reviews in a while! I love to hear advice and plot ideas from you guys – chances are I'll tie it in somehow no matter what!

Anyway it's 2:34 in the morning and I'm watching Nick Jr. - time to get shit done.

((This would have been out a lot sooner if my laptop hadn't crashed and lost all of my work. Needless to say, this chapter is rather rushed and crappy as I try to remember what I had written previously.))

((And this was even more delayed because, guess what? My laptop crashed again! Something tells me the world doesn't want me to finish this. Is my writing really that bad? Geez. Anyway, the plot is finally thickening as I get impatient! Hahahahahaaayeah this story really makes no sense. I'm trying to pick up all the random loose ends I've left but that has turned out a greater challenge than I first thought. Meh, enjoy the story before it descends into complete madness, at least.))

Eridan's POV

"_Dora, Dora, Dora, the explorer! Dora, Dora, Dora, the explorer…_"

"Nepeta, will you turn that crap down?! I can't hear myself think!"

"No way, this is a good show! Quality television cannot be silenced!"

"Oh my god, seriously! I—"

"I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't be so rude to Nepeta."

"Holy shi—Equius! Where did you come fro-get off of me! Jesus Christ, I'm sorry, dude—oh my god!"

It is way too early in the morning for this shit. Vris' screams of terror rip through the chilly morning air, shrieked profanities dancing with them. Normally, you'd enjoy hearing this, but it's six in the morning and you got to bed at fucking midnight last night.

Missions suck ass.

"Someone's in a sour mood this morning!"

You jump a little as Fef suddenly appears behind you, grabbing your arm and dangling from it like an annoying little sister.

Yeah, that was a good way to describe Fef. An annoying little sister that, however unbearable she gets, you love anyway.

"I'm not a morning person" you reply bitterly, chucking your coffee of the same taste down your throat. Fef giggles.

"I gathered that much from knowing you for ten years!" she grinned, "Ah, haven't you got a mission today?"

"Yeah" you respond, not much appreciating the reminder, "I get to hang out with Gamzee, Dave and Dirk all morning. Lucky me."

She laughs and gives you a pitying look, "poor you!"

You grunt in reply and she laughs harder, dropping down in the wooden dining chair next to you and grabbing a bowl of cereal. She obviously didn't fancy the Japanese-style fish breakfast (Dirk said it was totally necessary to have Japanese food at every meal, as it was multicultural; that's of course bullshit, the fucking weeaboo) lay out on the other side of the kitchen island.

The rest of breakfast goes by pretty uneventfully except for the scene John and Dave make when they walk in (you weren't paying attention, honestly, and thus didn't catch why), and you're soon grabbing your rifle and heading off to the town square with Dirk, Dave and Gamzee.

(And here we wind back time to…uh, I don't know, like, 2AM? Yeah. 2AM.)

Dave's POV

You're woken up by someone hitting you and the sound of screaming. Needless to say, it's not the best wake-up call and you're pretty irritated by it.

You shift into a sitting position and blink your bleary eyes furiously until the dark room comes into focus. It takes a while for your foggy mind to recall that John's beside you, but when you do remember you turn to him.

"John, what the—oh. Nightmare. Fuck."

He's thrashing and screaming and crying, clutching at his arms and stomach as if he's being beat up or something. How did you not notice earlier, Jesus dick.

You grab his shoulder and shake it gently, remembering bandaging his wounds, in an attempt to wake him up, but freeze mid-shake when you realize that he's mumbling something. It takes a while to decipher anything coherent in between his screams and whimpers, but you eventually catch a few sentences.

"No..please! Don't hurt me, I'm sorry!" he chokes out, "I love you, mother, please don't hurt me!"

Woah, wait a second, hold right the fuck up. What was that? 'I love you, mother, please don't hurt me'? This shit just got real. 'The plot thickens' or whatever.

Was his mum abusive or something? Is that why he's so…like this? Nah, can't be – at least not alone. The psychological damage is too deep to be caused by that alone and god fucking dammit you're turning into Rose.

You really have no idea what to do. He's suffering, obviously, so should you wake him? But there's no way he'd let this stuff slip awake…damn. Waking him up would be the right thing to do, ending his suffering for now, but if you let him sleep for just a little while longer…you can find out more about him and possibly end his suffering for good.

…you're a terrible person. You have to sit on your hands to keep yourself from waking him, agitatedly watching him thrash and mutter. Most of it is an incoherent mess, but you pick up the occasional word that adds another piece to the puzzle. All you have to do is put it together, and bam!

You are like Sherlock Holmes or something. A really hot, suave, sassy Sherlock Holmes.

Hot damn.

John's POV

You can feel her piercing gaze on you as she chuckles darkly, sickly sweetness dripping off the unpleasant sound. Her face is split into a Cheshire Cat grin that doesn't reach her eyes, Barbie-pink lips curled up in a way that cast shadows across her features. She bats her large false eyelashes and narrows her piercing pink eyes at you, grin never faltering.

"Oh dear, Jonathan…"

She knows you hate it when she calls you that.

"Such a terrible child you are. Disobeying your mother? How dare you!"

Her tone is of the same disgusting sweetness as the cake she bakes. You refused them when they were first given to you, but after realizing you weren't getting anything else you forced them down your throat.

"You're not my mother" you hear your own voice say, confidence woven in that you had almost forgotten you once had. You feel a sting of pain in your cheek as she slaps you, gold rings digging in and dragging more deep cuts into your skin. You know she gets them specially made this way so it hurts more when she hits you.

"What was that, boy?" she demands, glowering dangerously. You feel like a rabbit caught in headlights in her glare.

"I…" you're a fool, "I said you're not my mother!"

There it is. The agony as she kicks you. Her stilettos collide with your chest violently and you're thrown backwards onto the hard, laminate flooring and you hear an audible crack as you fly towards the ground. Just a few more broken ribs, nothing you can't handle.

You catch your head on the edge of the bed, however, and feel another wave of searing agony as the steel slices the skin. Blood splatters onto the floor and you appreciate the warmth of it. Nothing's warm anymore, nothing here, especially.

She laughs behind you, amused by your little 'show'. It's not enough for her, though, of course. You see a blur of pink before she kicks you in the face, cackling horridly.

"I _am _your mother, Jonathan!" she screeches, kicking you repeatedly, "So you will show me _love _and_ respect _and _do everything I say_! Do you understand?!"

On the last word she kicks your throat, choking you and obviously making you unable to reply. She did it on purpose. She loves punishing you.

"I didn't hear a reply, sweetheart" she chimes, kneeling down and grabbing both sides of your face, clawing at you with her gross fake nails. "Mummy asked you a question! Answer!"

Your voice escapes you, though, like it always does.

She sighs and mutters a 'pathetic' before moving on to a different question.

"Do you love me, Johnny? Do you love mummy?"

Oh, god, that bitch. She knows how much it hurts you to say you love her and call her that, as if she replaced the woman that gave birth to you.

"I _said_," damn it, "do you love me? Tell me you love me, Johnny, sweetie! Say you love mummy!"

She's laughing again now, hysteric and high-pitched sniggers as she digs her nails deeply into your thin skin and easily draws blood.

"I'll kill you, Jonathan! Say you love me or I'll kill you!" all sweetness gone from her voice, she shrieks right in your ear.

Before you realize it, you start crying. You sob and whimper pitifully as the pain grows, desperately choking out what she wants just as you break down completely.

"No..please! Don't hurt me, I'm sorry! I love you, mother, please don't hurt me!"

It all sinks into a mess after that. Your vision sinks into black and suddenly you remember. You remember all of this happening…and you remember what comes next. You thrash and scream even more violently at the memory, fruitlessly trying to wake up. This is all a dream, she's not really here, she'll be gone, this pain will be gone…as long as you just wake up!

You can't. You can hear someone yelling but it sounds so far away. Wake up, wake, up, wake up!

You can feel it coming closer, the beginning to so much more suffering…closer and closer and—

"_John_!"

Dave's POV

John wakes up with a start, blue eyes wide and body shaking violently. He takes one look at you and lets out a broken sob, suddenly diving off the bed and stumbling into the bathroom.

You can hear wet gags and whimpering as he empties his stomach of what little food he's eaten. You can tell he's struggling to breathe and panic, following him into the bathroom and kneeling down next to where he'd collapsed and curled up on the floor. You don't know what to do.

You'd heard about something like this before. What were they called? Panic attacks? Anxiety attacks? Whatever, you don't care.

Your main focus for now is making sure John gets through this.

A/N: Finished! Everybody say eeeeeh-oh! Eeeee-oh! Sorry it got really sloppy towards the end, I couldn't fit as much as I wanted into this chapter put if I left out the last bit it would have been way too short, so I just kind of awkwardly cut off there.

Anyway! Reviews are much appreciated! Flames will be used to burn down orphanages. Thank you, and goodnight!

(Studio audience applauds and cheers)


	10. Chapter Eight

**A/N: THE HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF **_**me not updating my bloody fics. **_**Well, at least the plot **_**finally **_**moves on from comatose John and clueless everybody else. Also new characters! Yay, antagonists!**

**Anyway, I'm finally getting to my "smooth writing" point that I mentioned early on so things won't be such a mess. Getting some more angst in here too because I think I was making things a little too light-hearted earlier.**

**Also getting some more pairings in here because Dave and John can't be the only ones getting it on in that hotel. Expect some subtle DirkJake and Rosemary on the sides aw yiss. You're also free to request other ships on the side – I'll probs add them in unless they're a noTP or mine.**

**Enjoy!**

**?'s POV**

Oh, what? "?"? Seriously? How stupid! What's the point of censoring your name?! Besides, idiotic author, didn't you want to avoid name censorships?

**Wow, rude. Her Imperious Condescension's POV (Condesce)**

That's better!

"Excuse me, my queen?"

You click your tongue in irritation as the annoyingly hesitant voice of one of your servants reaches your ears. Oh well, at least you knew you were doing a good job of scaring the pathetic twit.

"What is it?" you answer briskly, displeasure prominent in your tone. "This better be good! I was busy with extremely important business!"

**Haha, yeah right. Stop talking to yourself, old lady!**

Oh, shut up, child!

"W-we, um…well—"

"Out with it, you blubbering idiot!"

"Ah! I-I'm very sorry but-but your prisoner has escaped..!"

You freeze at that, a look of surprise crossing your face. It isn't there for long, however, as it is soon replaced by one of rage.

"You glubbing moron! You let him get away?! Do you have any idea how hard I worked to capture him?!"

You pinch the bridge of your nose, careful of your possibly unnecessarily large amounts of make-up and sigh, putting on a look of false despair and concern.

"My baby boy, my dearest son…he could be anywhere! Dead! How dare you let him escape into the big bad world I worked so hard to protect him from?!"

"W-well, I—"

"Shut up!" you grab the stuttering man by the hair and yank him in, pulling him off the floor to your eye-level, "You better hope he's alright! Find him! And if he's dead, you all will be too!"

You drop him and he nods, terrified, before running for dear life.

Oh, since when did being a villain become so much _work_?

**?'s POV**

Oh, honestly. Why is your name censored? How pointless, you don't have time for petty 'suspense' tricks.

**Oh, for the love of god you're all pissy little bitches. Doc Scratch's POV**

The rude comment was unnecessary, but you thank Miss Author anyway. It's hard to get her to do anything. Besides, you're rather bored and at least she provided some amusement.

Some may argue 'how could an omniscient/omnipotent/_whatever_ person ever be bored?' Well, it's quite simple really – what could an omniscient/omnipotent/whatever person do when there is nothing going on to see or predict?

Things have been ever so dull recently, even Miss Condesce's killing sprees and rampages have come to a standstill. It's so unfortunate that you cannot see any events to do with her, you have a feeling whatever is going on with her would be quite interesting.

She's alwa—oh, Lord is calling. Well, he isn't calling, but he will be in roughly three-point-seventy-four seconds. Once that time has passed, you pick up the phone before the first ring can sound.

"Yes, my lord?"

"Ugh, god, Scratch, I wish you wouldn't do that!"

"I apologize, my lord. Do you need something?"

"Oh, yeah. Condy's prisoner's escaped."

"Ah, the young Heir? How unfortunate. Did you just wish to tell me that or would you like to chat? Maybe pop round for some tea?"

"I thought you didn't tell jokes, Scratch."

"How rude. Maybe that was a legitimate offer? But you're right, it wasn't. I still desire an answer to the question, though."

"I've got a mission for you."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"Find the kid and bring him back. I don't care what you do to get him, just make sure he's alive."

"Yes, my lord."

**Dave's POV**

"PTSD."

Rose sighs as the word, or, uh, acronym, leaves her mouth.

"I should have seen this coming, really. I didn't, though. I suppose I had hoped for the best and ignored the large possibility that he'd—"

"Uh, real sorry to interrupt, but…what's PTSD?" you raise a hand nervously as if asking an angry teacher to use the bathroom. Rose had mentioned it before, but hell if you were listening.

She sighs again, leaning back on the sofa and taking a sip of her tea. She keeps it close to her face as she replies, basking in the warmth.

"It stands for 'post-traumatic stress disorder', Dave. It's a mental issue that is developed after a particularly traumatizing event" her voice is strained and quiet and you can tell she wants to cry, "this is serious, Dave, even more so than I thought."

"…so John's got a mental disorder?" that hit you like a brick and you can feel your stomach drop, "What…what the fuck happened to him?"

"I wish I knew" Rose sighs, "but he's not going to tell us, is he?"

As much as you hate to admit it, she's got a point. You haven't really tried to get much out of John so far, but it seems this whole ordeal is like a…a…what did Kankri call them…? Triggers! Yeah, this all seems like a trigger for John. Getting him to tell you stuff ain't gonna be an easy task.

"Anyway" you continue after a moment of unpleasant silence, "how's he doing?"

"Jane and Jade are looking after him" she replies, gulping down the rest of her tea with a lot less grace than she started with, "he should be alright after calming down."

Relief floods your chest and you release a breath you didn't realize you were holding. Rose smiles very slightly, but her eyes are warm.

"Would you like to return to the lounge?" she offers, putting her empty mug down with a delicate clink before rising from her seat and brushing her long skirt down; she hadn't bothered to change out of her day clothes yet.

"Sure."

You return to the lounge to find Mituna, Latula, Damara, Cronus and Rufioh still awake. Latula is cuddling Mituna – he probably had another nightmare and Damara is angrily scribbling the vague shapes of letters in her diary that Jane had given her ("write your feelings down in here, instead of saying them out loud! It's much better than yelling at someone, you get all the satisfaction without damaging any friendships!") with a cigarette hanging from her dark red lips, Rufioh looking over her shoulder and struggling to suppress snickers. Cronus is surprisingly quiet, hunched over some weird book about aliens. He's obsessed, you swear – he's always going on about how much he wants to be one and how great they are.

Rose seats herself in between the cuddlefest and aggressive literature, beginning to read a book that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. You flop down next to Cronus, who gives you a curt nod in greeting, and try to collect your thoughts.

**Still Dave's POV, by the way**

It's nearly six in the morning by the time you're informed you're allowed back in your room – "just be careful, okay? He's very shaken up!"

You make your way upstairs and pause before your door, attempting to collect yourself once again before you go in there and risk your tiny friendship that is already hanging by a thread. God, when did your life become some tragedy gang anime? You just hope you'll get more than thirteen episodes. (A/N: I wonder how many people picked up on which 'thirteen-episode tragedy gang anime' I'm talking about.)

You're not surprised when he doesn't speak when you walk in, but you are rather surprised by the staring. He doesn't say a word, just stares at you with those big, blue eyes of his.

It's kind of unnerving.

His knees are pulled up to his chest with his bony arms wrapped around them, face pressed to his knees but rising up just enough so he can watch you. The silence is heavy, unbearable, so you decide to break it.

"Uh, hi" you say, keeping your voice as soft as you can. He doesn't reply.

It's kind of strange to think that this is the same person you'd been having that happy conversation with last night. Unlike last night, he's tense and wary as if you could fly off the handle and attack him at any moment. In complete honesty, you were kind of wary of him doing the exact same.

"You gonna talk? Or just stare at me?"

…

Apparently just stare.

You sigh and card a hand through your hair, making your way over to the windowsill cushiony seat thing and sitting down. John's gaze follows you across the room nervously, but he doesn't shuffle away when you sit down on the seat considerably closer to him than the doorway.

"Are you mad at me or something?"

Of course he doesn't reply, but you swear you see a guilty look cross his face for a split second.

With an annoyed sigh, you decide you've got nothing to lose.

You look straight into his eyes, knowing he can tell. He stares back into the vague shapes of your own through your shades.

"Who is the 'mother' you were screaming about in your dream?"

He freezes instantly, eyes wide as dinner plates as his mouth falls open in horrified shock.

"You..heard me talking in my sleep…!" he half-shrieks in horror, before glaring at you with a sudden malicious glint, "It's none of your business! None..of your..business…!"

His glare falters and his hands fly up to covers his face as he buries it in his knees once again.

"I want to go home" he mutters, voice cracking, "Take me home…take me home…take me home, please, I want to go home…I want to go back, I want to see mum and dad again, I want everything to be okay again…I want to…I want…"

He trails off and the silence returns. You don't know what to say or do, so you just sit there with your arms half-raised, grabbing at nothing.

After a few minutes, it's surprisingly John that breaks the silence.

"Do you…really want to know?" he asks nervously, making no move to look up or sit properly "A-about…about me?"

You're treading on eggshells and you're not very graceful, but you answer with a quiet 'yeah'.

He draws in a shaky breath and closes his eyes.

"A long time…a long time ago, before everything got messed up, I lived with my mum and dad" he tells you quietly, struggling to keep his voice steady. "It was…great. It was so, so great. They loved me and things were okay for a while, but their jobs didn't pay well. We were…we were stuck in a bad area, and even though we the exact opposite of rich, we had more money than most of those thugs and we were targeted a lot."

You give him a small nod to show you're still listening.

"Dad and mum protected me, though. They were good fighters and managed…and managed to keep me safe for a long time."

You have a feeling that this is the part of the story where shit hits the fan.

"But…it must have been nearly four, five years ago now when they broke in. They…they attacked us and killed my parents…when you were in my house, did you see the bodies in the lounge?"

You nod and he laughs bitterly, tears pricking in his eyes.

"Guess you've already met the parents then, eh?"

Ouch, that was a dagger to the heart. However, he's continuing with his story before you can pipe up. Probably wants to get it done as quickly as possible; you don't blame him.

"I hid in my parents' house for nearly a year after that, stealing food and water when I really needed them. But then more people came. There was a woman that took me away and told me to call her 'mother.' I'd…rather not tell you about the rest of that. But…the next thing that happened was you finding me and I thank you for that. Mother is looking for me."

O…kay. So his parents were killed, he was kidnapped by an abusive 'mother' and you guess escaped somehow? So now psycho-mama's on the hunt and John's relying on you to protect him.

You flash him a confident smirk.

"Don't sweat it, bro. I got your back – no one's gonna hurt you, you're safe now, a'ight?"

He blinks at you and smiles softly, forcing it into a toothy grin.

"Thanks, Dave!"

Heh, he's pretty cute when he smiles.

You bet he's even cuter when it's genuine.

**Dirk's Pov**

Alright, so the kid you took in has PTSD. Great. Fan-_fucking_-tasting.

This kid's gonna give you gray hairs before you're thirty, you swear to god. At least you have Rose and the others to deal with him, you don't reckon you could handle him on your own.

"Dir-ky!"

Groan. Why is Roxy even awake? Surely she should have passed out by now. However, as tired as you are, you're not a big enough dick to ignore your best friend so you get up and throw your bedroom door open.

"What is it Lalonde?" you ask flatly, though your eyes widen in surprise when you see Jane and Jake stood beside her. Jane gives you a slightly sheepish smile, arms wrapped around Roxy to keep her upright and Jake grins at you, also working to keep the tipsy girl from falling flat on her face like she'd done countless times before.

"You seemed rather stressed" says Jane sweetly, "so we decided to come cheer you up and keep your mind off all that!"

You can't help the grin that spreads across your face.

"How's a film marathon sound to you?" Jake smiles, lifting up a plastic bag completely filled with DVDs.

"That sounds great."

**A/N: I don't even know why this took so long. It's the longest chapter yet, though, so maybe that explains it!**

**And oh look, actual plot! Prepare for some romancin' pretty soon!**

**Please review, cuties!**


	11. Chapter Nine

**A/N: Greetings, 'tis I – the ghost author! I only show up once every full moon to whisper a shitty chapter in someone's ear before returning to the beyond.**

**This would have been up sooner, but I was stuck at my nan's. It's also pretty short, but oh well!**

**Welp, we left off with Dave and John finally interacting a little more and Dave making a promise to protect him, and our dear Alpha kids starting a film marathon.**

**Let's go!**

Dirk's POV

You're halfway through 'Coraline' (the first film you put in) when Roxy passes out on Jane's lap. Jane nods off not too long afterwards, after promising to stay awake for at least three films. You didn't really expect either of them to stay awake to be perfectly honest – Roxy's wasted and Jane struggles to stay up past nine if she isn't doing anything.

You've watched this film a few times before, but with the terrified whimpering and not-so-hushed whispers, you'd had trouble paying attention. Fully watching it, you notice that it probably wouldn't be your thing without Jake, Jane and Roxy. Even though Jane and Roxy's sarcastic commentary only lasted half the film, it was still pretty amusing. They dubbed the serious scenes with stupid voices and added in their own little bits of dialogue.

You think Coraline is a much better character with a gruff, manly voice.

"Hey, man. You fallin' asleep?" you chuckle as Jake scrubs at his eyes in a desperate attempt to stay awake. Glancing at the digital clock on your bedside table, you note that it's 6:03 in the morning. You have to be up for missions in three hours.

You lean forwards and shake Jane awake, "hey, you're supposed to be downstairs cooking breakfast!"

She curses and scrambles out of the room, throwing Roxy aside and throwing herself downstairs. Amazingly, the blonde doesn't wake up.

You yawn and lie down next to her, dragging Jake down with you. Might as well get some sleep, even if it probably will be only two hours.

Dave's POV

You don't remember going to sleep, but apparently you did at some point. You're sprawled out with John curled up next to you, your mobile blasting 'Party in the USA' with the reminder "get the fuck up ur gonna be late" on the screen.

You reluctantly clamber out of your warm, comfortable heaven to throw some clothes on and do your morning patrol with Eridan, Gamzee and Bro.

John shifts and wakes up at the loss of heat and sits up groggily. You notice absentmindedly that his bruises are started to heal a bit more.

"Good..good morning, Dave" he greets, his stutter – though still there – is a lot better than earlier. He's calmed down. You turn around and flash him your signature smirk-smile.

"Mornin', bro. How you feeling?" you ask, yanking on a red and white baseball tee with your 'logo' on it. John smiles softly, "much better, thanks."

You get dressed quickly (John averting his gaze) and make your way into your bathroom to spend a few hours styling your hair.

"Hey…um, where are you going?" you hear John ask, and you glance back to see him sat up in bed.

"Mission" you reply simply, then choose to elaborate when you see his questioning look. "Basically, we go out and patrol the city to make sure the other dumb fucks, optimistically titled 'gangsters', aren't starting any unnecessary shit."

He quirks an eyebrow and nods.

When you eventually decide you're ready, you walk back into your room and gesture for him to come with you, "if you want to, I mean."

He smiles and gets up slowly, wincing and falling back down a few times, but eventually he's on his feet. He's pretty shaky so you hold his arm to support him; he gives you a grateful grin.

You don't return it. Your face is pulled into a concerned grimace – his arms are way too bony to be healthy.

He either doesn't notice your concern, of chooses to ignore it as he continues down the stairs until you both reach the dining room. Eridan's sat gulping down what you guess is his third mug of coffee, giving you an irritated look while Feferi hangs off his arm and giggles at her own joke. Bro and Jane and sat next to each other quietly discussing something you don't care about. Gamzee's nowhere to be seen – he'll probably get up at the very last minute, as usual.

"Oh!" Jane exclaims suddenly, leaping to her feet, "John, you're up! You're feeling better, I trust?"

John smiles at her, lowering himself slowly into a chair. "Yeah, I'm feeling much better. Thanks."

"Thank goodness!"

You manage to gulp down some lukewarm coffee before Gamzee comes downstairs and you, Dirk, Gamzee and Eridan set off.

"Good luck" you hear John call after you.

"Be careful, boys!" Jane throws in.

**John's POV**

You feel sick and your head hurts, but you're utterly sick of sitting in bed all day so you bite your tongue and follow Dave downstairs.

He's too nice. It's weird.

He promised to protect you, but you don't trust him. Everyone in this place is too nice and gentle and _not _Mother. There's no cold tile floors or thin scratchy blankets, no blood-stained sheets or cage-like rooms. Not that you're aware of, at least.

Is this all some elaborate trick set up by Mother? It must be! She's dressed up some of her servants to gain your trust, and soon enough they're going to hurt you. Maybe even kill you!

Ha. And just when you thought things were finally looking up.

Dave and some other people you don't recognise leave for their 'mission', leaving you alone with Jane and another girl you don't know.

The girl you don't know turns to you and gives you a bright smile, thrusting her hand out to you which causes the many bangles on her wrists and upper arms to chime like bells.

"Hi! John, right? I'm Feferi!"

Guess there's no harm in being friendly.

"Um, nice to meet you" you return the smile and shake her hand and she giggles.

"Come on, let's go into the Games Room! I think some other people are awake!"

You're not given much of a choice as she grabs your hand and pulls you along into the so-called Games Room. Sollux is sat playing some sort of video game with an angry-looking boy and two pretty girls are sat on the sofa up against the wall on the other side of the room. One has nice wavy blonde hair and blue eyes, the other with long, dark plaits.

"Ey, 'mornin, lil' sis!" plaits-girl greets Feferi, "who's 'e?"

"Good morning, Feferi" blonde-girl smiles, putting her book aside, "who is this?"

"This is John!" Feferi exclaims before you can get a word in, pushing you forwards to go and sit with the girls. The blonde introduces herself as Aranea, and the other as Meenah.

"Oh, hey, John" Sollux raises a hand at you, not looking up from the game.

"Don't be rude, KK. Introduce yourself"

"What?" the other guy practically shouts, before barely sparing you a glance and saying, "oh. Uh, hi, I guess. I'm Karkat."

"Nice to meet you"

You're only given a second rest before Feferi bounds over and grabs your arm, "so John…tell us about yourself!"

Dave's POV

The wind is bitter and your breath dances white through its grasp in the dim sunlight. It's always really cloudy in Skaia.

You and Bro had split off with Eridan and Gamzee about fifteen minutes ago so you could get to your stations. Gamzee and Eridan were assigned to watch the Midnight Crew and Felt, while you and Bro watched the morons that split off with aforementioned gangs. Lord English and Condesce and the others.

It's been pretty uneventful…until now. Doc Scratch, one of Lord English's henchmen, comes strutting down the street straight towards you, stopping a few feet away in what's probably an attempt to make his height less obvious. It doesn't work. Scratch is still stood there in all his clearly 5'2'' glory.

You and Bro raise your swords and he puts his hands up defensively.

"Now, now, boys. I don't wish to start any petty schoolyard fights" he says in that slightly smug, posh voice of his.

"Then what do you want with us?" Bro asks spitefully.

"I'm looking for someone – a very dear friend of mine. My…ah…_nephew_. He's gone missing, have you seen him?"

You're fully prepared to tell him you haven't seen him and he should watch his damn kids better, until you actually see the picture.

It's a picture of John.

A/N: Uh, I really don't have much to say. Stay tuned for an update that will hopefully come before the end of the weekend!

Please review, cuties!


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